Posted on 12/02/2004 9:55:32 AM PST by nickcarraway
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- On Wednesday, attorneys for Florida Governor Jeb Bush filed a request with the nation's top court asking it to uphold a law passed by the state legislature that allowed Bush to prevent Terri Schiavo's estranged husband Michael from subjecting her to a painful starvation death.
The request asks the Supreme Court to decide if Terri's right to equal treatment under the law has been violated by state courts that overturned Terri's Law, the measure that allowed Bush to save Terri's life.
Bush attorney Ken Connor, former head of the Family Research Council and a pro-life advocate, says the Supreme Court's decision on whether to get involved in the case could have a huge nationwide impact.
Connor told the Tampa Bay Tribune newspaper that the Supreme Court's decision could affect other people with "profound cognitive disabilities" like Terri.
"The implications of the Florida Supreme Court's opinion for persons with disabilities are ominous,'' Connor and co-counsel Robert Destro wrote in the petition.
"Unless the State of Florida retains the power to protect the rights of its most vulnerable citizens to due process and equal protection of the laws, the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantees will apply only to those who are capable of defending them on their own,'' the Bush legal team wrote, according to the Tampa paper.
Disability rights groups have strongly supported efforts by Bush and Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to spare Terri's life.
However, George Felos, the euthanasia advocate who is Michael's lead attorney, said the Bush request was simply another effort to delay the case.
Felos is not sure whether he will respond to the Bush petition on Michael's behalf.
The case is headed to the Supreme Court on appeal because the Florida Supreme Court found Bush's invention in the case a violation of the separation of powers clause in the state constitution.
Bush also argues the Florida courts did not allow him an opportunity to present his side in oral arguments or to depose witnesses who could vouch for Terri wanting to live rather than be denied lifesaving medical treatment and rehabilitation.
In April 2001 the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a separate legal battle seeking to stop her death because she did not have an independent guardian representing her.
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ping
YAAAAAAAAAAAA !!! Thanks Jeb !!!!
Odds are that old Carthaginian Ba'al worshipper Justice Ginzburg is going to be tending the bench for the SC on this one. She'll positively salivate to participate in yet another execution of an innocent person.
ProLife Ping!
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Ping!
I think Gov Bush simply needs to call out the NG to protect Terry and tell the FL SC that they have overstepped their bounds.
Make no mistake, I don't believe Terri's still in there or will ever "recover" but I can't agree with starving her to death.
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can someone fill me in on the latest... is Mrs. Schiavo considered to be in a Persistent Vegetative State or not?
Agreed. Quite barbaric.
That depends on who you ask and what definition is used. Her husband and his doctors say that she is. Her parents and their doctors say she is not in a PVS. According to the legal definition in the Florida statutes, she's not. But Judge Greer has held that she is based on a looser medical definition.
The fact is that Terri makes noises that her parents say are responses to them. They are appropriate for what she is possibly interacting with, and certain other stimuli. She turns her head away from caustic smells. She moans when she's having her period, to the point that her caregivers give her ibuprofen to get her to quiet down.
She most definitely doesn't fit the Florida statutes legal description of persistent vegetative state, which is "no response of any kind". Not whether she can do it consistently, but can't do it at all. What Michael and his cohorts are trying to do is nothing short of euthanizing this woman, which is against the law.
Thanks for the ping, Nick!
Terri ping! If anyone would like to be on/off my Terri ping list, please let me know here or by Freepmail.
Afterall, sitting for long periods of time in uncomfortable positions when too warm or cool for murderous thugs and terrorists, sure qualifies as abuse for these folk.
You've a good point. As for her estranged husband -- he shouldn't even be considered a husband since he leads another life with a mistress and Terri is no part of it except to be tormented and to be killed by starvation, a horrible way to die.
I think it's a good idea. How to start this campaign or get their attention?
One presumes that to start an inquiry would be to contact the ICRC, wherever their headquarters are located, presumably Switzerland or one of the other "chocolate producing" countries.
Good point!
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